This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

BLOG

Orthokeratology: A New Solution

Orthokeratology: A New Solution

Myopia has a couple of different causes, the most common flavor being axial myopia. In axial myopia, the eye is physically longer than it should be. That physical difference leads to difficulty properly focusing on far-field objects, although there is a corresponding boost in a myopic person’s ability to focus on near-field objects. The end result is nearsightedness. Objects at a distance will appear fuzzy and indistinct. As anyone who ever suffered through myopia as a child can tell you, it can make reading a whiteboard at school a legitimate trial.

Corrective lenses can clear the problem up quickly, as can surgery, but both come with their own attendant problems. Corrective lenses can be difficult to keep track of, especially for younger users with glasses. Contacts are a little friendlier to active lifestyles, but they also increase the risk of serious issues such as corneal ulcers or infection.

Surgery is, well, surgery, and invasive procedures shouldn’t be undertaken lightly, especially when we’re talking about younger patients. Both procedures have a further drawback in that they don’t do much to prevent future changes in sight. Lenses will often require replacements as an individual’s vision worsens or (more rarely) improves. Surgery is even less flexible.

Ortho-k may provide a different solution. Still, the heart of orthokeratology should be familiar. The therapy relies on special, purpose-designed contact lenses to physically reshape the eye. We’ve known for a long time that eyes can reshape under contacts, but it was only recently that technology was developed that allowed us to take advantage of the phenomenon.

The lenses used work by inhibiting or encouraging the growth of cells in the eye. If the lens in in close proximity to the eye, growth is inhibited. If it’s in greater proximity to the eye, then growth is encouraged. As a result, it’s possible to use a lens as a “mold” for a growing eye. If begun early enough, ortho-k can work to reduce the characteristic lengthening seen in myopic eyes, correcting focus and hopefully restoring normal vision.

It’s a relatively simple solution, albeit one with complex technological underpinnings. And that hypothetical promise has been – to some extent – realized in practice. Several long-term studies of ortho-k determined that the treatment did indeed have an appreciable effect on eye-growth, which could in turn help mitigate the effects of myopia. Not only that, but, as many supporters of the treatment point out, it should at least theoretically operate on into adulthood. Additionally, as the lenses used in ortho-k treatment are night-wear only, they’re actually less intrusive than active-wear contacts.